Cheerio to Cheerios and Quaker Oats!

According to the FDA: “To protect public health, in 2020, following our post-market safety assessment, the FDA obtained commitments from manufacturers to cease sales for food contact use in the U.S. of grease-proofing substances that contain certain types of PFAS. Today’s (Wednesday) announcement marks the fulfillment of these voluntary commitments. In addition, the FDA has confirmed that other manufacturers have voluntarily stopped sales of other food contact substances (which contain different types of PFAS) intended for use as grease-proofing agents in the U.S.”

Our take? While this is good news on this issue, we certainly won’t take the word of the FDA and the chemical and food packaging industry. This whole business of phasing out “certain” PFAS chemicals raises concerns of more whack-a-mole games with different PFAS class chemicals. And Big Business has rarely made good on voluntary commitments to public health. So we’ll keep investigating in the coming years to make sure manufacturers are complying and not greenwashing, and the FDA isn’t misleading the public.

Some grocery chains are moving to help protect pollinators by requiring their suppliers to stop using neonicotinoid insecticides, or neonics. Whole Foods and Kroger have recently outlined policies that will ban the use of neonics in crop production. Whole Foods’ policy also applies to its floral department. According to the Whole Foods policy, fresh produce and floral supplies will be required to use integrated pest management (IPM) to reduce chemical pesticide use starting in 2025. The company said it is also encouraging suppliers to phase out neonics, and neonics will be banned by suppliers of potted plants in the store. Kroger’s policy will also require suppliers to use an IPM system with tiered deadlines based on farm size. Growers with mid- to large-sized farms will need to meet a 2028 deadline, while small farms have until 2030 to make the change.

It’s about time retailers used their leverage for positive change.

Pregnant women in a key U.S. farm state are showing increasing amounts of the toxic herbicide dicamba in their urine, a rise that comes alongside climbing use of the chemical in GMO agriculture, according to a new study published in the journal Agrochemicals. The study, led by the Indiana University School of Medicine, showed that 70% of pregnant women tested in Indiana between 2020 and 2022 had the weedkiller in their urine, up from 28% from a similar analysis for the period 2010-2012 that included women in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. Notably, the new study found that along with a larger percentage of women showing the presence of dicamba in their bodies, the concentrations of the weed killing chemical increased more than four-fold.

A federal court recently ordered a ban on dicamba, but the EPA is allowing Big Ag to use up its stock. Help us get dicamba banned immediately. Demand that the EPA pull this dangerous pesticide from the market now: tinyurl.com/BanDicamba

A Texas county has launched a first-of-its-kind criminal investigation into waste management giant Synagro over PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge (also marketed as “biosolids”) it is selling to TX farmers as a cheap alternative to fertilizer. Two small TX ranches at the center of that case have also filed a federal lawsuit against Synagro, alleging the company knew its sludge was contaminated but still sold it. Sludge spread on a nearby field sickened the farmers, killed livestock, polluted drinking water, contaminated beef later sold to the public and left their properties worthless, the complaint alleges. In recent years, biosolids have sickened farmers, destroyed their livelihoods and contaminated food across the nation.

And yet, the EPA and USDA still allow, and even promote, the practice of using sludge as fertilizer. Thankfully, sewage sludge is prohibited in certified organic and biodynamic production.

Apple orchards are healthier and more productive when bugs like hoverflies, lacewings and ladybirds are present, a study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, showed. Flower margins had been planted next to 5 apple orchards in the UK. A research team led by the University of Reading found that only 48% of trees had fruit damage compared to 80% in orchards without flowers. In 2020, 200,000 tonnes of apples worth £158 million were produced in the UK. The two-year study suggests farmers could harvest up to an additional 2,420 kg per hectare (6.9%) of undamaged, premium apples by installing flower margins on orchards. Lead author Charlotte Howard said, “By looking after our creepy crawlies, we can take better care of our apples.”

Working with Nature instead of the toxic chemical warfare too common in conventional farming? What a concept!